


the ink has been blotted away

by readingbylamplight



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Canonical Character Death, F/M, For reasons, I apologize in advance, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Gems, Kinda, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Peggy Carter as Captain America, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers is Not Captain America, Tags May Change, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, like he doesn't know who Peter is but he thinks that he might be his kid, theres a big possibility that ill change the summary at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-19 11:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16533992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readingbylamplight/pseuds/readingbylamplight
Summary: “I could snap my fingers and they would all cease to exist.”After the Snap, the Forgetting began.And somehow that was worse.“I hope they remember you.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based off a post I saw on tumblr (spideyandstark) that talked about how horrible it would be if the snap didnt just kill people, but if it wiped them from existence and caused everyone to forget them.

In a half-awake moment, he puts pen to paper and tries to keep from forgetting.

 

The dream is, reoccurring, haunting him, clearer each time. 

 

He can’t forget. He  _ can’t _ forget.

 

_ He can’t. _

 

He’s forgotten again.

* * *

 

“I had that dream again, the one where we have a kid.”

 

The scribbles on the page are barely readable, but he manages in time, his glasses perched on his nose; the result of far too many years of reading in low light and staring at a screen.

 

_ Kid dream again. _

_ Brown, curly hair.  _

_ Our kid?  _

_ He was in the lab with me.  _

_ Why do I keep seeing him? _

 

There’s something unidentifiable at the end.

 

Something in him says its important, that he should remember.

 

But he doesn’t.

* * *

 

“I don’t want to go.”

 

He’s paralyzed, lying in bed with his eyes open but unable to move. Powerless. 

 

There’s a figure in the corner, hunched over and curling in on itself, hands caught in dark hair.

 

“I don’t want to go.”

Why does it-

 

“ _ No, _ ” Tony’s brain supplies, “ _ he _ .”

 

Why does  _ he _ keep saying that?

 

“I don’t know what’s happening.”

 

And why does it sound so familiar?

 

It goes on for hours and hours until the figure looks up, locks eyes with Tony.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

The face of the boy he doesn’t know crumbles into dust, and Tony wakes up screaming.

* * *

 

_ “Have you ever seen this really old movie-” _

 

Tony whips around, scanning the workshop as a gauntlet materializes over his hand. 

 

Nothing.   
  
There’s nothing.

 

“JARVIS is there anyone here?”   
“Other than you, Boss? No.”

 

He lets out a shaky breath, turns back, and doesn’t notice the slow twirl of the second, unused stool in the corner.

* * *

 

He doesn’t tell Pepper what’s going on.

 

Doesn’t tell anyone actually.

 

_ “None of this would’ve happened if you had just listened to me! If you even cared you’d actually be here!” _

 

When he wakes from the latest dream, the boy….   
  
_ His son? _

 

No, no,  _ the kid.  _ The kid is sitting at the foot of the bed, eyes glowing in a shifting array of colors as he stares into Tony’s own.

 

It feels like he’s staring into his soul.

 

“Why are you here?” Tony asks, whispering so Pepper won’t wake, “Who are you?”

 

_ “Please don’t leave me here. You need to look for me.” _

 

The voice sounds like a thousand, overlapping, but all with the same message.

 

_ “Save us.” _

* * *

 

 

There’s a fire in Queens, an apartment building alight from an explosion caused by what seems to have been a gas leak.

 

He and Pepper are in the car on the way to dinner when they see the smoke, and he’s out of the car and in the sky before a word can even be said. 

 

“JARVIS buddy, scan the building and show me where the people are.”

 

He shoots through the fifth-floor window at the first sight of a glowing human outline and lands in a living room. A woman is hunched in the corner, trapped by the flames and coughing violently, and he runs to her; feeling the heat of the fire on his legs as he picks her up and flies back out.

 

The ambulance and fire department are arriving as they land, and he runs her over to the EMTs, setting her down where they direct and holding her hand as she coughs and cries.

 

He should go. He should. There are probably more people in the building.

 

So why wasn’t he leaving? 

 

“Sir,” JARVIS says, as if reading his mind, “It looks like she was the only person left in the building.”

 

He breathes a sigh of relief and reaches down to help her open the water bottle someone walking by handed her. Her hands shake too much to get a grip on it, so he gently steadies them and twists the top with his free hand.

 

“Thanks,” she coughs again, taking a sip of water before the EMT goes to put an oxygen mask on her.

 

Why is he still here? Why is he still holding her hand?

 

Why does he feel like he should be apologizing for something?

 

He feels as if he’s being watched and turns, slowly, to look out over the crowd surrounding the building. There’s nothing, but when he looks up at the broken window he feels as though he’s been punched in the gut.

 

The kid is up there, staring back at him with those glowing eyes and surrounded by fire. And then, in the time it took to blink, he was gone.

 

He turns back to her,“What’s your name?”

 

She looks back up at him, pulling the oxygen mask away from her mouth a bit so she can speak.

 

“May Parker.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Parker.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

“Morning, Cap.”

 

“Morning, Tony,” Peggy’s accent came through crisp and clear over the comms, “Lovely day isn’t it?”

 

The shield glints in the sunlight, rebounding off of the gunman and back into Peggy’s hands as Tony fires repulsor blasts into his now unprotected chest.

 

“It couldn’t be better honestly.”

 

A dark figure swings overhead and on instinct he fires at it. Peggy turns to him seconds later, grabbing the gauntlet and dragging him and the suit back down behind the car with her enhanced strength.

 

“What was that, Stark?!”

“What?”

 

The gunfire picks up again, and she pushes him down as she rises, throwing the shield yet again and firing her gun with her free hand. Once it returns to her she ducks back down.

 

“You just fired at absolutely nothing! Pull yourself together or you’re going to get us both killed!”

 

He looks up, the kid is sitting on the roof the next building over, watching silently.

When he does speak, several minutes later after Tony and Peggy have defeated the remaining gunman and are moving towards the door, it sounds as though he’s whispering directly into Tony’s ear.

 

_“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. We have to fix it.”_

 

“How?” Tony turns slightly, and he’s right there, close enough that Tony can see in detail the way that his eyes are missing pupils and irises. They look like they have a layer of glass over them, sharp colors flashing beneath it and glowing unnaturally.

 

“You say something, Tony?” Peggy asks from a few feet away, turning to check on him before she goes to open the door.

 

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

 

He takes a step forward, and feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as the thousand voices begin to speak. But this time they are not working together, simply tumbling over each other in chaos. He can’t understand them.

 

“ _You’re the only one who can fix it.”_ The kid’s voice rings out, screaming over the crowd, and then every single one of them go dead silent, and the kid collapses into ashes again.

 

“Tony are you okay?”

 

He’s not okay. He’s definitely not okay.

 

Not okay not okay not _okay not okay-_

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. Sorry about that.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“I just wanted to be like you.”_

 

_“And I wanted you to be better.”_

 

He wakes in the workshop, not really remembering when he fell asleep but it had to have been for at least a couple hours by the way his neck and back feel.

 

Tony stumbles out of the workshop, barely conscious as he takes the elevator up to him and Pepper’s apartment. JARVIS turns on the television in the living room at his request, at a low enough volume that it won’t wake Pepper, and he watches HGTV while absentmindedly making a sandwich.

 

When he finally takes a bite, the couple choosing the way over-budget house with no yard much to Tony’s annoyance, he gags; running over to the bin to spit out the mouthful.

 

“JARVIS,” he says between spitting into the trash can and swishing water from the faucet,  “gimme a little more light won’t you?”

 

He looks down at the sandwich, brow furrowed at the sight of pickles and turkey squished down; the pickle juice soaking into the bread.

 

Why did he make it? It’s disgusting.

 

The pickles were still on the counter, he must have gotten them out without realizing? Tony’s not sure, but he disposes of the sandwich, grabbing another piece of bread and slathering it with butter before curling up on the sofa to eat as the next show begins.

 

Butter’s safe, he trusts it in his now fully-awake state to never betray him.

 

He dozes off, eventually, during the tour of the third house.

 

When he wakes, the sandwich is on a plate on the coffee table in front of him, and Pepper is still asleep in the bedroom.

 

“Kid,” He scolds with a chuckle, a little voice in the back of his mind asking why he’s so calm about this, “Not cool. No paranormal stuff where I sleep.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Peggy said that you were acting off on the mission the other day?”

 

The kid’s been in the corner on the stool for an hour, not speaking. He’s been crying silently for most of the time, his face occasionally collapsing into ashes before rebuilding itself.

 

“Just hadn’t slept well,” He says, brushing off her concerns and kissing her cheek, “I’m fine.”

 

“Are you?”

 

Pepper holds his hands between them, but his eyes leave hers and meet the kid’s. He’s standing behind her now, just over her right shoulder; tears streaming down his face.

 

_“I don’t want to be here any more, Mr. Stark.”_

 

“Tony?”

 

_“You have to get us out of here. You have to make this right.”_

 

She turns, looks over her right shoulder and then back to him.

 

“You need sleep, honey. Let’s go.”

 

_“Please don’t forget about us again.”_

 

“Okay,” he says, not only to Pepper, but to the kid as well, “Okay.”

 

He follows her out, and when he glances back one more time before they reach the door, the kid isn’t there.

 

* * *

 

 

“I don’t know what I need to do,” He whispers into the darkness, “I need you to help me out, kid, if you want me to help you. Tell me what I’ve got to do to make this right.”

 

He closes his eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

He opens his eyes, and finds himself in a place he can’t quite recall.

 

“Titan,” the kid speaks from behind him, “This is Titan.”

 

There’s wreckage everywhere, rusted metal and rust-colored dirt alike heavily scattered along the uneven ground.

 

The kid walks past him, looking back until he follows.

 

_“I’m sorry.”_

 

He looks over to the kid for an explanation, but the kid shakes his head as if he wasn’t the one who spoke and points out in front of them, “Watch.”

 

A figure sits on a rock ahead of them, his hands pulled close and his forehead resting on them. Everything seems to glitch for a moment, and then the figure is standing, and another is walking towards it.

 

_“Mr. Stark?”_

 

He moves closer to where he can see better, and the kid follows him.

 

_“I don’t feel so good.”_

 

“You’re all right,” The Other Tony says, the waver in his voice betraying the calmness he was going for, and the boy stumbles forwards.

 

_“I don’t know what’s-I dont know what’s happening. I don’t-”_

 

Tony’s vision blurs, and the boy falls into the other’s arms, holding onto him as he begins to cry.

 

_“I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go, Sir, please. Please, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go.”_

 

He can’t stop watching, horrified, as the two fall to the ground at the other boy’s legs disappear out from under him.

 

_“I’m sorry.”_

 

He falls apart, disintegrating into ashes that fly away into the wind. Tony can’t move, but the kid does next to him, walking forward as Other Tony sits up, looking at his hands in shock and letting his forehead fall onto them.

 

And then it begins again.

 

“This is where I died.”

 

The scene plays out in front of them, _Mr. Stark? I don’t feel so good._

 

“Why don’t I remember?”

 

“Because for you, it didn’t happen. Everyone who died, they didn’t just die.”

 

_I’m sorry._

 

The kid takes a shuddering breath, it begins again, _Mr Stark? I don’t feel so good._

 

“The universe became as if they never even existed.”

 

Tony falls, mirrors the fall of the Others, and the kid catches him, easing him down onto a rock.

 

“There’s a way to fix this, Mr. Stark. It’s a long shot but there is a way.”

 

The kid slips a piece of paper into his hands and he reads it, _**177A Bleecker St. New York City, New York.**_

 

“Why there-” He looks up as he asks and falls silent.

 

“You can stop this from happening,” the kid whispers, ashes already beginning to blow away in the wind away from them.

 

His eyes glow green, staying there for a long moment as he falls apart into ashes, mirroring the pair just feet away from them.

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think so far :)  
> Come hang out on tumblr! thewritingasexual


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (sorry if you accidentally got the notification twice! I messed up while posting the chapter the first time and had to delete and try again)  
> B.A.S.I.A. stands for British and American Security and Intelligence Alliance.

He woke up screaming, desperately trying to hold onto all he had left.

 

_He couldn’t forget_. _He couldn’t forget he couldn't forget he couldn't forget he couldn't-_

 

**_177A._ **

 

The lights turned on.

 

**_177A Bleecker St._ **

 

Pepper sat up next to him as he frantically moved to grab the notebook and pen off the nightstand; scribbling the address down on the first blank page. His phone fell onto the floor in the midst of the chaos, skidding off into the corner.

 

**_177A Bleecker St. New York City._ **

 

Tony didn’t forget _, he didn’t. Not this time._

 

“Tony what’s going on?” Pepper’s hand was on his arm, he couldn’t remember when it got there.

 

She sounded terrified.

 

“We all forgot, Pepper. Something horrible happened and _no one_ remembers the ones who died because of it.”

 

She followed him out of bed, getting dressed alongside him without a word as she listened.

 

“The kid, the one in my dreams? We lost him, he disappeared with the others and now no one remembers him. But somehow, wherever he is, he’s telling me how to make it right. To fix everything.”

 

“Okay,” and she sounded resolved, the way she sounded when she’s about to close a deal at a meeting, calm and focused, “What do we need to do?”

 

“You believe me?”

 

She nodded, “Crazy things have happened over the last couple of years, this isn’t really out of the realm of possibilities.”

 

Aliens falling through a portal above where they stood at that very moment.

 

Peggy calling him to send in the suits when she learned that Hydra had infiltrated B.A.S.I.A. and were planning to murder millions with Project Insight.

 

The one time last year when a racoon that seemed to be _talking_ and _walking_ and _wearing clothes_ crashed what looked kinda like a spaceship in Central Park……

 

(Tony has questions for that thing when they finally find it, it ran off with what he’s pretty sure was a modified machine gun and they haven’t seen it since.)

 

“That is true.” He retrieved his phone from the corner and put in the address from the notebook, turning the screen to show her, “We need to go here, the kid says that we’ll find what we need to save him there.”

* * *

“What is this place?”

 

He didn't know, but he _did._ He couldn't explain it in any way other than it felt like there was a hook embedded in his chest and he was being pulled towards something hidden within the building in front of them.

 

But in a way, it was less like being pulled and more like being _called._

 

He’s been here before, he’s sure of it.

Not in this lifetime, but in the last.

 

“I don’t know,” He said once he regained his voice, “But it's important, I can feel it.”

 

It called to him again, and he followed it up the stairs and through the heavy doors.

* * *

The kid appeared next to him once the doors swung shut behind them, the entry in front of them dark and dusty.

 

“ _Love what they’ve done with the place.”_

 

He glanced over, and the kid lazily walked forward, turning the corner and disappearing for a moment before he poked his head back around, _“C’mon, this way.”_

 

Tony tugged at Pepper’s hand in his, and they followed the kid down a darker hallway that the arc reactor cast in blue light.

 

“I can see him, the kid. Not all the time, but a lot.”

 

Pepper squeezed his hand as the kid turned around, green eyes bright in the darkness, and pointed at a door. Tony opened it, letting the kid through first before following.

 

“What does he look like?” She murmured, soft enough that he could barely hear her.

 

“Like he could be ours.”

 

He _could be_. He probably wasn’t, considering the kid called him _Mr. Stark_ all the time instead of _Dad_ , but it felt right in his heart. Somehow this kid who crawled through his worst nightmares and most unfamiliar dreams found his way into his heart before Tony could even realize.

 

And maybe that was the part that mattered to him the most.

 

Howard had been his biological father, any DNA test could tell you that, but it was Jarvis who had stepped into the role as his dad; and he was a _good_ one.

 

Tony hoped that in the other life he had the chance to be like Jarvis, and not like Howard.

 

_“There,”_ the kid was suddenly next to him again, pointing at a nearby pedestal, _“That’s what we need.”_

 

“Tony Stark, I wasn’t expecting you here.” A voice boomed through the room and the repulsors were forming on Tony’s arms and raised before the figure could step out of the far corner.

 

“Who are you?” Tony asked as the kid stepped forward, footsteps eerily silent, and moved towards the pedestal he had pointed out.

 

Tony took a step forward after him, the need to protect _his_ kid overriding the thought that the man making his way over from the far corner couldn't see him, and the golden oval on the pedestal shifted slightly.

 

Green light poured out through the new cracks in the the device, and Tony felt the feeling in his chest amplify, another step pulling him closer. The kid reached out to touch it, fingers passing through the gold, and the emerald glow in his eyes faded away. The glassed-over look to them was gone, melted away, and where it once had been were now brown eyes.

 

Human eyes.

 

“My name is Wong. I’m a Master of the Mystic Arts and the caretaker of this place.”

 

Tony glanced over at the kid, “Well, Wong, we have a bit of a situation.”

 

The man finally stopped a couple feet away, and Tony looked back to him.

 

“It involves the Stones, doesnt it? The soul stone’s signature is all over you, it’s practically in your DNA.”

 

“It does. The universe was changed by this guy named….”

 

He glanced over at the kid, _“Thanos.”_

 

“Thanos, who used the power of the stones to wipe out half the universe. But we don’t remember, because he didn’t just kill half the universe, he rewrote it to where they never existed. Also, care to introduce us to your friend who’s trying to be all sneaky back there?”

 

A man in a cape had walked the edge of the room as Tony spoke, eyes trained on them, and stopped as Wong turned around to look.

 

“Tony, we’re the only ones here. Except for the kid, of course,” Pepper whispered.

 

“Pepper there’s a guy in a _cape_ right there. You really don’t see him?”  
  
 _“This is where his soul is tied,”_ The kid said, next to Tony again all the sudden, _“He’s trapped, like me.”_

 

“I don’t see him.”

 

“The kid says he’s like him, except stuck in this place. Anyways,”

 

Wong looked like he wanted to interrupt but waved him on to continue.

 

“It started with dreams, weird dreams that felt like memories. All surrounding this kid. And then I started hearing him, and seeing him. He’s one of the ones we lost.”

 

His hands trembled and he clenched them into fists, “ _I lost._ I watched him die, relieved it in one of the dreams. We need to fix this, and he says there’s something in this place that can.”

 

_“Time stone.”_

 

“The time stone.”

 

_“We need it to go back to before the Snap, when the universe was changed a year ago. If we can stop the Snap then everything will be returned to what it should be.”_

 

Tony relayed the message and Wong didn’t react at first except with a frown.

 

“I understand what you’re saying, I really do. But I cannot allow you to leave with the Time Stone, Mr. Stark.”

 

Pepper’s hand curled around his wrist, tight enough to keep him in place, and if not for that he would have taken what they came for by force.

 

“Why?” His voice broke, and behind Wong the kid looked stricken, causing even more anger to overtake him. A repulsor began forming over one of his hands unconsciously.

 

_“Don’t.”_ The man with the cape said, and Tony’s eyes shifted to him, _“You won’t win that way, Tony.”_

 

He took a breath, and willed the repulsor away as Wong began to speak again.

 

“If you change what you say happened, that will impact the lives of billions in ways we can’t even predict. How many people will cease to exist if you go through with this? We can’t play God, Stark, it’s not right. The Time Stone is not meant to be used, for so many reasons, and to use it to play God is only one of those.”

 

Wong stepped between Tony and the pedestal, and the kid darted around him to stand next to Tony again.

 

“A simple mistake can destroy everything we know. Temporal manipulations can create branches in time, paradoxes, time loops! Do you want to risk getting stuck reliving the same moment in time over and over again, _forever?_ Do you want to risk creating a break or unstable opening in the space-time continuum?”

 

“There are risks, I understand that. But we’re talking about _billions_ of people murdered and erased from our memory. They’re suffering, Wong, and we can save them.”

 

“The answer is no, Mr. Stark. I’m sorry, but I have to protect _this_ universe. I can’t sacrifice it for another.”

 

A desperate voice in the back of his mind said he could win the fight, but the man in the cape met his eyes again and shook his head.

 

Tony turned on his heel and left.  

 

He could hear Pepper calling out to him behind him, but he couldn't turn back, following their path back out into the light of the rising sun.

 

He wept silently, and when Pepper sat down in the passenger seat, he saw she was crying too.

 

They sat there for a long while, watching the world around them begin to wake up and begin the day. Their tears dried, and they held hands and ignored the buzzing and ringing of phones until they were ready to go home again.

 

The car came to life, they pulled back onto the street, and after a moment of driving Tony spoke.

 

“Is there normally this many people out this early?”  
  
Pepper glances around and frowned, “What do you mean?”

 

“All those people, standing on the doorsteps and fire escapes.”

 

She looked again, “Honey, I don’t see anyone.”

 

“Oh.”

* * *

“I don’t know what to do, bud. Any ideas?”

 

Dum-E let out a sad beep as Tony finished his recap of the last couple weeks. The eventful trip to Bleecker Street two days ago had ended with Tony shutting himself away in his lab out of both frustration with the universe and desperation to find a way to fix the problem.

 

“Wizard kinda had a valid point, about the risks, but if I don’t try to fix this I won’t be able to sleep at night, you know?”

 

Dum-e tilted his head with a hum.

 

“I don’t understand it, bud, but my heart says that this kid is _my_ kid. And I can’t watch him suffer for the rest of my life.”

 

Tony stood, kicking the chair aside as he began to pace, “Plus there’s the whole ‘I see dead people’ thing i’ve got going on now that I’m not really a fan of. It’s kinda disturbing. But the Cape-Guy says that I can’t fight the Wizard so that means we can’t get the time stone which means we can’t fix the timeline.”

 

_“Since when have you let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do?”_

 

He turned around to find the kid was sitting in his abandoned chair, feet propped up on the table.

 

_“When the terrorists told you to build them a weapon you said no and built a suit of armor. When the government said ‘give us the suits’, you said no and they still don’t have them to this day. You are Tony freaking Stark, are you really just going to sit down and give up because some wizard told you no?”_

 

He was right. He was so incredibly right.

 

Cape-Guy would just have to get over it.

 

“No. No, I’m not.” He stood, turning towards the kid, “I’m going to steal it.”

 

_“That’s what I thought,”_ The kid’s voice held a hint of humor to it, _“It means that if there’s something wrong, those that have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action.”_

 

“What?” Tony couldn't help but wonder why that sounded so familiar…..

 

_“I’m going to steal it,”_ the kid _giggled_ , _“I’m going to steal the declaration of independence.”_

 

“We are having a moment and you were really on a roll with that pep-talk, is now _really_ the time to do Nicholas Cage impressions?”

 

_“Definitely.”_

* * *

“Pepper, love of my life, the most amazing CEO to ever grace the planet, my darling wife-”

 

“What are you planning, Tony?”

 

“I know what you’re thinking, honey, but just hear me out.”

 

_“Okay, Tony, pay attention. I’ve brought you to the Library of Congress. Why? Because it’s the biggest library in the world. Over twenty million books. And they’re all saying the same exact thing: listen to Peter.”_

 

Tony almost dropped the phone, breath stuttering a short bit as Pepper continued to take cleansing breaths and hold back swears in preparation of his idea that would definitely be illegal or dangerous, probably both, on the other end of the line.

 

His name was _Peter._

_  
_ _“Now when the Declaration is on display, it is surrounded by guards and video monitors, and little families from Iowa, and little kids on their eighth grade field trip. And underneath an inch of bulletproof glass is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off if someone gets too close with a high fever.”_

 

“You know what, I’ll plead my case to you in person. The kid is quoting National Treasure and I can’t focus. Love you.”

 

He ended the call and turned back to the kid, _Peter,_ sat up on the counter with his feet swinging above the floor; a bright grin on his face. Tony couldn’t help but grin back, the kid’s joy was downright infectious.

 

“What’s got you so chipper, bud?”

 

_“I know that you’re going to save me, Mr. Stark.”_ He hopped down off the counter, bouncing from one foot to the other with nervous energy, _“you’re going to save me and we can go_ _home_.”

 

Peter was there in the time it took to blink, arms wrapped around Tony’s middle. It took Tony a second, but he returned the hug, pulling him closer until he was sure that the universe could not rip him away from him again.

 

“No matter what, kid, I’ll get you home. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Thanks for reading and I'd love to know what you think!   
> Come hang out on tumblr - thewritingasexual

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Misery Looked a Little Better on Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17350751) by [PenelopeValentine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeValentine/pseuds/PenelopeValentine)




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